Category Archives: Ideas to ponder…

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I know I’ve said it before, but now is where we’re gonna start again. I’ve kept pulling up this blog and enjoyed looking back at past experiences and the places they’ve grown to. It’s been wonderful. So, here’s to a new chapter. Continue reading →

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It has been way too long since I posted here. Been busy with lots of new things and I’m hoping to get into the details about the last few months in subsequent posts. I think it’s only appropriate that I start with a short post about our backpacking trip to Grouse Ridge, Ca. That appears to be the last place I left off. More to come very soon…

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I’m super stoked to be heading out to the Sierras on a backpacking trip with some friends (and my dog, Stub-a-dub). Gonna be a blast and hoping to put together a nice little post with pictures afterward.

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Take a minute to check out the new area of this blog: “Things We Eat…“. You can click on the tab at the top of this page to navigate there. It will be a place to discuss whats going on in my kitchen, in your kitchen, and with the things we eat. I hope you enjoy it…

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It’s day 6 of not smoking cigarettes and I wanted to say a big “Thank you!” to everybody who has encouraged me. It really has helped and I truly appreciate it. I’ve had some rough spots but they’ve always been manageable by thinking of those who I care about. Again, thanks very much…

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I’ve smoked cigarettes for far too long. It started as a thing to do when I was playing music in bands and I’m sure we thought we were pretty cool. It continued when I began film school and had hours of time to kill while processing movies or standing on a film set. It didn’t help that everybody else in film school was dealing with these “down periods” in the same way. By that I mean standing around, smoking, and shooting the shit.

Let me be clear on one thing: I love the sensations that come with smoking. I love the smoke, I love the burning sound it makes, I love the occupation of my hands that it provides, I love how it keeps me company as I ponder life late at night, and I certainly love the calming properties it provides.

Well that chapter just ended four days ago and I couldn’t be happier

It hasn’t been easy, but it also hasn’t been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Granted, I have a 21mg Nicotine patch stuck to my arm as I write this. The pangs still come calling and I deal with these. Usually I manage these by taking some deep breaths and rubbing the patch on my arm. I’ve quit in the past and luckily I retained the tools to deal with this. The thing that has changed is that I just want to stop. I don’t want this damn habit anymore. Recent events have shown me that it’s time. I want this. I want other things that don’t come easily with smoking. So it’s time.

I write this down, probably, as a coping method, but I also want others to know that you won’t see me smoking anymore. Something about writing this down makes it more permanent for me. I hope others will see this and will also consider doing the same. Most of us know we should stop but think it will be too hard to deal with. I’m here to tell you it’s manageable. Not easy, but manageable.

I’ll leave you with this positive experience from this morning. Walking to work today I noticed something very positive. I walked up the slope to UCSF and got to the top of the hill without once coughing or hacking. This hasn’t happened in literally years and it’s always been a point of bother to me as I knew where the irritation was coming from. Today, I can breathe a bit easier and that makes me very, very happy.

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The holiday season brings a lot of things out of the woodwork: our family, our friends, and often some of the old items, stuffed deep into the recesses of the family home. This is one such example of the latter.

After my mother pulled out an old school bag from the college years, I found this little quote that I had written down for myself. I was quite happy with my younger self for saving this little snippet for future digestion. I find the quote as interesting now as I must have years ago and I hope you enjoy.